Suicide bomber kills 61 at Baghdad army recruitment centre as desperate men queued for work

At least 61 people were killed and 125 wounded yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an army recruitment centre in Baghdad.

The blast, which tore through a line of 250 would-be recruits in the Iraqi capital, was one of the bloodiest this year.

It comes just two weeks before the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq and amid simmering tension following an inconclusive election more than five months ago that has yet to produce a new government.

Horror: A pool of blood is seen at the site of the suicide bomb attack in Baghdad

The lucky ones: A shocked and wounded man is treated at a Baghdad hospital after the blast, which killed 61

The bomber sat for hours among hundreds of army recruits before detonating nail-packed explosives strapped to his body.

Bodies of bloodied young men, some still clutching job applications in their hands, were scattered on the ground.

And, perhaps most horrifyingly of all, some of the men were so desperate for work that they returned - hours after being treated at hospitals for injuries in the attack.

Iraq's military and police recruiting centres have been attacked repeatedly.

Even so, there was virtually no security provided for the hundreds of men seeking to hand in applications on the last day they were being accepted at the headquarters for the Iraqi army's 11th Division.

The bomber, it appears, simply walked up and joined the applicants.

Witnesses said he approached an officer collecting ID cards and set off a blast that split his own body in two.

A bloodied man lays quietly on the gurney at the hospital after the attack

'Severed hands and legs were falling over me. I was soaked with blood from the body parts and wounded and dead people falling over and beside me,' said Yasir Ali, who had been waiting outside the military headquarters since 4am.

The attack was an embarrassment for Iraq's military as it tries to reassure the nation it can fill the gap left by America's departing military.

'We couldn't get another place for the recruits,' said Iraqi military spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, explaining why the army used an open and unprotected site in central Baghdad's Maidan Square to gather the recruits.

'It was difficult to control the area because it's an open area and because of the large number of recruits,' he said.

He blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq for the attack which took place yesterday at about 7.30am.

The location normally receives about 250 new recruits each week, but numbers swelled today because of the deadline for applications.

Iraqi security forces have been trying to boost their numbers as the U.S. military leaves the country after seven years of war.

Whether Iraqi forces are ready is being hotly debated by American and Iraqi officials.

Iraq's military commander, General Babaker Shawkat Zebari, acknowledged last week that his army may not be ready to defend the nation until 2020.

Recognising the weaknesses, insurgents have intensified attacks on Iraqi army, police and other security forces in recent weeks.

At least two recruits who witnessed the attack raised the possibility that a car had also exploded at the scene, which could account for the high death toll.

But al-Moussawi blamed the deaths on a single suicide bomber.

'We were sitting there, and somebody began shouting about a parked car,' said one of the recruits, Ali Ibrahim, 21, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds.

Officials at four Baghdad hospitals confirmed the death toll of 61 and said 125 others were injured.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

This summer in particular has seen a spike in violence in Iraq.

Data from the Iraqi defense, interior and ministry officials show that July marked the bloodiest month since May 2008, with more than 500 killed, although external tallies have been lower.

The shoes of the victims, blown from their feet in the blast

In a similar attack last month, a suicide bomber ripped through a line of anti-Al Qaeda Sunni fighters waiting to collect their paychecks near an Iraqi military base, killing 45 people in the mostly Sunni district of Radwaniya southwest of Baghdad.

August, which saw the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has also been deadly.

Two bombs that set off a power generator and ignited a fuel tank on August 7. killed 43 people in a downtown market in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

Iraq’s top army officer last week questioned the timing of the U.S. September 1 pull-out, saying the Iraqi military might not be ready to take control for another decade.